The quotation that opens T. S. ElliotÆs (1917) The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is one from DanteÆs Inferno. The quote suggests that no one ever returns from hell. Because of this, those in hell can speak their mind freely, since it will cost them nothing. This quote is significant to EliotÆs themes and views of the urban city and human interaction, because the speaker in the poem depicts these aspects of human existence as superficial and hellish. This is particularly true with respect to human identity and the search for meaning in existence.
EliotÆs constructs his poem as a tour through the city and an evening of social interaction. His speaker invites us at the beginning of the poem to make this journey with him, ôLet us go then, you and I,ö (Eliot, 1917, p. 1). After we have been introduced to the isolation, loneliness, superficiality, and mortality of the city and dull cocktail parties, the speaker informs us that we are at the end of our journey: ôWe have lingered in the chambers of the sea / By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us and we drown,ö (Eliot, 1917, p. 4).
We see that the modern urban city is a place of isolation, loneliness, and seemingly evil intent. The speaker informs us that the streets are ôhalf-desertedö, filled with ôone-night cheap hotels,ö and streets that travel like an ôinsidious argumentö with ôinsidious intent,ö (Eliot, 1917, p. 1). The city is filled with ôyellow fogö and ôyellow smokeö and pools ôstand in drainsö as ôsootö falls from chimneys, (Eliot, 1917, p. 1). Such a view of modern urban existence is hardly inviting, and appears to resemble the hell to which the opening quote refers.
Once at his cocktail-like party, the speaker maintains that others there will show only a fatade and will expect the same from him, ôThere will be time / To prepare a face to meet the fac
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